To Live is to Suffer
by Therm
Summary: When Andrea stands up to The Governor over his plans to kill Merle and Daryl, she finds herself taken out of Woodbury with one of the Dixon brothers and left for dead.
1. Survival

**Title:** To Live is to Suffer  
**Summary:** When Andrea stands up to The Governor over his plans to kill Merle and Daryl, she finds herself taken out of Woodbury with one of the Dixon brothers and left for dead.  
**Notes: **I've started a few different takes on the second half of season three, but this time I decided to go in a direction the show isn't going in because the fun is in making stuff that isn't happening happen.  
I'm also going to pretend that the other group of survivors didn't find the prison.

_**To live is to suffer. To live is to find meaning in the suffering. **_

**1. Survival**

She'd always been proud of herself for how long she survived after the herd had hit the Hershel's farm.

She didn't have a clue, really. That wasn't real survival. Not like she went through with Michonne through the winter, months of hardship. And not like now.

But she was still proud of herself, because she'd stood up for herself, for her friend.

When Phillip had unveiled Daryl to the crowd she was shocked as hell, but she never imagined he'd rile the crowd up to have them actually call for the deaths of the brothers. So she'd done the right thing, she fought off Milton as he tried to stop her and she fought to the front, to try and talk some sense into Phillip. She pleaded with him, to listen to her, to not execute them.

"Someone has to pay," he'd said, coldly. He gave the signal and those armed around the brothers aimed at them. She looked over to Daryl, but he wasn't looking her way any more, he'd been more focused on Merle and the rabid crowd surrounding him. Now he was just looking at gun aimed at him and he looked terrified, he knew he wasn't going to get out of this one.

"Phillip, please..." Andrea begged she tried once again.

He pointed at Merle and the gunshots sounded suddenly and echoed into the silence as the crowd silenced momentarily before erupting in cheers.

Andrea couldn't tear her eyes off of Daryl as he looked across to Merle's slumped body. She looked over to Phillip and saw the smirk on his face. He was loving this.

She felt sick as she watched The Governor circle round Merle's body and then stand behind Daryl. She could see him tense from where she stood and he waited, let Daryl think about what he was going to do before he placed the hood over Daryl's head again. He pressed the barrel of a gun to the back of Daryl's head, let him think about it before it happened... and then he lowered the gun and shot Daryl in the side. His body lurched forward with the force but Phillip grabbed his bound arms and kept him standing.

"Take him away," he demanded as the two men who dragged Daryl out earlier, took him away again. There was almost no fight in Daryl this time.

Phillip circled the body of Merle, turned him over so he was on his back. All the shots were in his body and she looked, hoping maybe he was still alive but she saw no movement from his chest. Quieter, he spoke to one of the men "Take him away but remember I want the head," he said and he received a nod as Merle's body was dragged away.

It was all too much. "You sick bastard," Andrea said, lurching at him. The men who had been holding her back earlier had almost forgotten about her once she'd stopped struggling and she connected with Phillip's injured eye, digging her knuckle into it. He screamed in pain at the assault, before she was dragged off of him.

A vicious blow to the back of her head, rendered the world dark and when she next woke up, she was disorientated. Her head throbbed and then she realised she was blindfolded and in a car. She was reminded of the way she was bought into Woodbury. She struggled a little to sit up but was aware of a dead weight on top of her and she had a horrible vision of Phillip clearing out the dead from Woodbury and the image of corpses laying on top of her almost made her sick.

The car stopped and she heard the doors open. The weight left her and then she was dragged from the vehicle and ditched on the ground.

"Tie 'em to a tree," a voice demanded.

"Why?" a female voice asked. Haley?

"Because The Governor wants them eaten,"

"Their unconscious, tied up, beaten. They've got no weapons. They don't stand a chance!"

"Just do it!" The voice growled angrily. "I'm gonna rouse the biters this way,"

Andrea swallowed her fear. They were going to get eaten alive out here. Haley sat Andrea up against a tree and started to tie the rope around her. It didn't feel very tight. She paused half way through and Andrea wondered what she was doing. She lifted her blindfold up a little, her young face looking worriedly back at Andrea. Checking around herself again, she pulled a blade out of her pocket and put in in Andrea's hand. "This isn't right, but I can't save you," she said. Andrea looked to the body next to her that Haley struggled to shift against another tree. It was Daryl, no doubt about it. He looked unconscious and she hoped that if she couldn't free herself that he'd at least stay that way. It the walkers came...

She pulled the blindfold back to cover Andrea's eyes. There was some rustling as someone came running through the trees. "Found a coupla biters up ahead. They're heading this way. Should make short work of them," the man said. He sounded close and then Andrea felt him tug on the ropes, checking they'd been tied. he seemed satisfied.

"Let's go," Haley hurried him.

"One sec, need some fresh blood," he said. Andrea heard the sound of a boot connect with flesh several times and was certain Daryl grunted with pain. She hoped the pain wouldn't rouse him. "Should do it," he said. He hesitated, before pulling off her blindfold. She looked up at him, terror in her eyes. He simply smiled down at her. "I'll let you see what's coming." He left the hood over Daryl as he quickly got in the car and they drove away.

As soon as Andrea thought it was safe, she grabbed the handle of the knife and quickly worked on cutting through the rope. The knife was sharp and she felt it nick her skin several times but she didn't have time to be more careful. She could hear the walkers, heading in the direction the car had left and if they could smell the blood then they wouldn't have long until they were upon them.

She felt one of the ropes loosen and she started on the next one binding her hands together. She quickly cut through that, her grip on the knife slipping as it became slick with her own blood. She didn't care, she had to get the rope off tying her to the tree before the walkers got much closer. With her hands free, it was easier to cut the next rope off and she made short work of it. She pulled the rope free and stood up, her head pounded still but she needed to keep going while the walkers were near.

She spared a quick look down at Daryl to try and access how badly hurt he was.

It was clear enough he was still unconscious and he slumped to one side, she guessed from where that goon had been kicking him. Even though his clothes were dark, she could see a dark stain on his side. She guessed that was where he'd been shot and he'd just been kicked.

The moans from one of the walkers increased and she wiped her hand on her pants, then wiped the handle too, readying herself to fight. As the first walker broke through the clearing where they'd been left, she was surprised by how emaciated it was. It looked like it had never eaten. It lunged for her, the smell of her blood filling the air and she managed to side step it's advances and plunged the knife into the side of it's head. It crumpled to the floor quickly and then the second walker emerged. A female with long ratty hair. Her fury at the situation she was in caused her to side step until she was behind the walker. She grabbed the hair and yanked, expecting to pull the walker to the ground but instead she was left holding the hair and scalp that she'd partially ripped from the walkers head. The female walker didn't pay much attention to this as it started to advance towards Daryl. Andrea threw down the disgusting hair and scalp in her hands and plunged the knife into the skull with such force her hand came away covered in brain and gunk.

She took some deep breaths, attempting to calm herself and went over to Daryl before sinking to her knees beside him. She took a few minutes, taking deep breaths before she pulled the hood off him. The blood on the side of his face had dried and some flaked away just leaving him with a small cut.  
She untied the rope from the tree and then moved to untie his hands carefully. There was some bleeding where he'd been bound, but not too bad. There was a deeper cut on his forearm but she didn't worry much about that either. She looked at the bullet wound and how it was bleeding still and she knew that sick guy had kicked Daryl in the wound to make him bleed more.

She let out a breath. She needed to be calm. Recalling the time Daryl had got himself injured looking for Sophia she drew inspiration from his own resourcefulness. He'd used his clothes to make a bandage. She took off the shirt she was wearing cut it a couple of times, then folded the fabric up on itself to help stop the bleeding. She then used the rope to secure it in place. It wasn't ideal but it was the best she could do.

She had no choice but to wait for Daryl to get himself together enough to return to consciousness and when he did, they'd have to start making a move.


	2. Sanctuary

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who reviews. I truly appreciate them and I'm sorry I don't answer you all (not that there's that many), but it touches my heart and I thank you deeply.

* * *

**2. Sanctuary**

"Hey?"

Daryl turned his head from the sound and tried to ignore the light that seemed to be shining directly into his eyes. He couldn't work out where he was and he thought back to the last thing he could remember.  
Storming Woodbury, saving Glenn and Maggie, staying back to make sure Rick got the others out. And then being captured. Merle, Andrea. The execution. And that thought made his eyes fly open and his body jerk upright as visions of his brothers corpse became the only thing he could think of.

He didn't notice the hands that supported him, the gentle rubbing on his back that was offered as a way of comforting, even the burning pain in his side was reduces to nothing as his moss overwhelmed him.

Hie eyes blurred with tears tried to work out where he was and he was left more disorientated than before he opened them.  
He turned to see Andrea's worried blue eyes looking back at him.

"Where are we?" we asked, voice unsure and raspy.

"I don't know," she admitted. "The Governor sent a couple of his lackey's to drop us off out here. There was a girl who left me a knife so we could get free."

Daryl looked at the walkers corpses that lay in the clearing where they were sat. It was clear they weren't in a safe place right now. "We need to get going," Daryl said.

"Can you manage?" Andrea asked.

"Have to," Daryl replied honestly. He used the tree to pull himself up, Andrea ready in case he needed some help.

"Which way?" she asked him.

As neither of them had a clue where they were and the only trail was the one back to Woodbury, they headed along a different path, hoping that it might be the way to the prison.

It was the only goal they could set for themselves.

Andrea gripped the knife in her hand as they walked, knowing she'd need to protect them both if anything threatened them. They walked silently and she let Daryl lead while she kept an eye on their surroundings for danger. She assumed he'd know how to get back to the prison because that was the sort of thing Daryl was good at. It wasn't until a walker lunged at him suddenly that she realised that he was paying little attention to what they were doing or where they were going.

Daryl managed to throw the walker off of him and Andrea was on it before Daryl had a chance to consider stomping on it's head with his boot. With the threat passed, Andrea decided they needed a better plan than traipsing through the woods right now. She continued to let Daryl lead, although she was more alert his own distractions now and kept an eye out for any walkers ahead of them as well.

"Look over there," Andrea called to him after a while of travelling. To their right there was a steep incline and she could see a chimney just visible.

"Might be a huntin' cabin" Daryl suggested.

Andrea started heading towards it, Daryl followed her slowly, struggling up the incline after her. His hand clutched his lower abdomen as he climbed as he felt an odd pain. Andrea waited for Daryl to reach the top as well as she looked cabin.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"If it's got some water it'll be worth it," Daryl said.

She'd not really thought about how precarious their situation was and now he'd bought it up, she wondered how they'd ever survive.

Daryl's story of survival as a boy filled her with hope. He couldn't have had water or food and he made it nine days. Of course, he wasn't sporting a bullet wound then, not to mention the grief of losing his brother.

"God, I hope it's empty," Andrea said as they began to make their way down to it. She listened by the door and heard nothing but silence and then took a peek through a window. "I think it's clear," she said and they moved together to the door in perfect synch.

Inside, it didn't take long for them to see that the place had been abandoned a long time ago. "We should spend the night here," Andrea said.

"We need to look for weapons," Daryl said, as he made his way over to one of the cupboards. It was home to a bunch of useless paperwork, and he rifled through it in hopes that something they could use might be underneath. He came up empty handed.  
Andrea searched through a different cupboard and found nothing or use either.

"I'm gonna look in the next room," Andrea said. "Keep looking in here?"

He nodded as he opened the next door to see if there was anything in there.

Andrea headed into the kitchen. The first thing she did was turn the tap on and was relieved to see water flow. She quickly found two glasses and rinsed them once before filling them both up. The weapon search could wait, they both needed water more.

She went back through to Daryl who had stopped searching and had undone the rope that she tied around his wound and removed the cloth from his wound.

He looked up as he heard her come in.

"Is it okay?" She asked, concerned.

"Hurts like a bitch," he told her as he looked at the wound.

She handed his the glass and they both took a few sips of water, savouring the liquid.

"I didn't get past the tap in there. Hopefully there's a bottle or two we can take."

"Need some food too," Daryl added needlessly.

"You could do with some medicine. Bandages, gauze, painkillers, antibiotics. anything would be an improvement on rope and my top,"

"Aw, you sacrificed your top for me?" he said.

She smiled at him. "A small sacrifice," she admitted. Daryl put the glass back down and went back to look at his wound.

"So?" she pressed.

He prodded around the wound a little with his fingers and grimaced before shrugging. "Guess it'll heal fine," he said.

Andrea came closer to him and looked herself, was surprised he let her but it had been a long time since they'd been around one another, seemed he'd changed since she was last with him. "You look like you've got half the woods in there," she said, worried. "I'll try and find a first aid kit of something."

She headed back into the kitchen and Daryl went to the other door in the room and opened it up. The smell hit him immediately. He walked into the bedroom and looked around, finding nothing before seeing the corpse.

Daryl walked into the bathroom and looked at the sight before him. The man was thin and naked, sat in a half empty bathtub, stained with bloody water. There was a pool of blood on the floor and Daryl could see the deep gashes in the wrists. The man jerked towards Daryl suddenly and started groaning in that familiar way. Daryl looked around for something to use on the walker and found the man had used a broken bottle on himself to end it all. Daryl grabbed it quickly and jabbed it viciously into the eye of the man. he splashed as he fell back into the tub and Daryl threw the broken bottle into the bathtub as well, feeling disgusting using the same item to end the man's life a second time.

"Shit," he muttered to himself. He wiped his hands on his trousers as though that would erase what he'd done and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Andrea came in with a small first air kit in her hand. He looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Better than nothing," she said.

Daryl wasn't sure about that, seeing as it didn't look like it could hold more than a couple of band aid's but he forces a smile to reach his lips. Andrea opened the box and tipped the contents out. They both notice a lot of band aids and Andrea rummages through and finds a tub of antiseptic cream.

"Better than nothing," she said. "I'm gonna get some water and we need to clean that wound out to make sure you don't get any infections."

He nodded as she headed to get what she needed.


	3. Pillow Talk

**3. Pillow Talk**

Daryl lay on the bed, eyelids drooping heavily, but fighting sleep.

Andrea was lay opposite him, watching him carefully. After she'd cleaned his wound, which had been a painful, cuss filled experience, she'd managed to bind his wound a lot better, using more of the top she'd sacrificed earlier and using an old t-shirt she found in the cabin.

Daryl had said he'd sleep on the floor in a different room, but she insisted they share the room, more for herself than anything and he reluctantly stayed. She wished he would sleep though, because he needed it.

It was still light out though and she guessed it might be a little too early to sleep.

"So, how's the rest of the group?" she asked. She'd already told him about meeting Michonne and getting to Woodbury.

Daryl looked to her for a moment, before rolling onto his back. "Shane, Patricia & Jimmy never made it off the farm. Nobody was sure about you. T Dog said he thought he saw you go down and... no one knew for sure. Lori and T Dog didn't make it either,"

"My God," Andrea said, trying to take it all in.

"The prison... we need to be there. We can't hit the road again. Not so easily. Hershel lost half his leg, there's the baby..."

"Baby?" Andrea asked, confused.

"Lori's," Daryl added.

"She had the baby and died?"

He nodded. "Maggie had to... to save her, the baby... it was a bad day," She saw the emotion in his eyes but didn't say anything. What could she say? There losses were huge and she'd felt wronged by the group this whole time when they'd been fighting for their lives. "I'm sorry," she said eventually. "How's Rick and Carl..." she asked gently.

"Rick kinda lost his shit for a bit," he shrugged. "He's better now I guess."

"They're gonna think you're dead, aren't they?" she said suddenly.

"Better that than thinking I'm still at Woodbury. You know Glenn and Maggie were there, right?"

"What?"

"Merle took 'em. Beat the crap outta them from what we saw. The Governor knew all 'bout it. Wanted to find out where we were holding up," Daryl explained, closing his eyes for a long time before he turned back to his side so he could face her again. "That's why we were there. Tryin' to get 'em back,"

Andrea nodded. "I couldn't believe it when I saw you."

"Me neither. Although kinda nice seeing you in the crowd. Those people aren't so nice."

Andrea smiled and Daryl's gaze drifted over to something else and she could tell he was thinking about Merle. "You should get some sleep," she said.

"What about you?"

"Me too," she added.

He nodded slightly and closed his eyes. In no time at all, she followed his lead.

She woke in the morning alone.

Panic flew through her and she quickly left the bedroom but her fear was short lived as she saw Daryl sat on the chair in the next room. He looked at her, eyes bleary from lack of sleep. Damn, she hadn't even heard him get up.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He nodded slightly. "Couldn't get back to sleep," he said quietly. She could imagine, knowing how hard she found all tasks after losing Amy, especially sleeping. At least she got to hold her sister, tell her she loved her. Got to speak those words she wanted her to hear,even if at that point she couldn't really understand them. Daryl had nothing but the vision of his brothers execution to live with.

"Listen, if..."

"We should get going," Daryl interrupted. "If The Governor sends people to check on our dead corpses and there's nothing there they might try and find us."

"If he wanted us dead, he'd have just killed us," Andrea reasoned.

"I don't wanna take any chances."

"Okay," Andrea agreed. "I need to get a few bits together before we leave," she said.

Daryl pointed to a bag next to him and she looked inside to see he'd gathered anything they could use already.

"Okay then, let's go."


	4. Rest Stop

4.

Daryl's brow creased in a deep frown.

Andrea stood beside him, expectantly. When he remained silent and confused, she decided to say something. "It doesn't look like a prison," she said.

He shot her a dirty look as he looked at the small town that lay before them. Andrea realised that not only were they not where Daryl thought they should be, but he also had no clue where they actually were either.

He stepped away from the tree line, onto the concrete and eased his way over to the nearest building. He stayed flush against the wall and peeked round the corner. Andrea crept up to stand beside him and when he didn't say anything about what he saw, she carefully passed him to see for herself.

Before them were a few small shops, a quaint quiet old town and in the middle of the town lay a beautiful park, not much more than a fence with a few trees and benches but she imagined that this place was heaven.

She stepped back closer to Daryl and she noticed his hand was pressed to the wound on his side and his face was pinched with pain. "What's the plan?" she asked.

"Need to figure out where the hell we are," he said.

It wasn't a plan, just a statement. Andrea nodded though like he'd given her clear instructions of what their next move should be.

She took the lead and headed from the side of the building to walk into the town, looking for which of the small stores would be most useful to them. There was a small convenience store and she headed towards it.

Like a lot of stores they visited, the door wasn't locked and they headed straight inside.

There was little too the store and Andrea quickly walked the three aisles to make sure there were no walkers inside. Finding it clear, she headed to the storeroom and swept through it. Finding it also clear she relaxed slightly, heading back into the main store where Daryl had stayed.

He had locked the door and she assumed they were going to wait here for the night, continue searching the next day. Once the door was locked, Daryl sagged against the counter, his hand seeking out the wound again.

Andrea didn't need to ask him how he was, he was suffering and she scoured the shelves to find whatever she could to ease his discomfort. She found a bunch of antiseptic wipes and some painkillers and took them back over to him, grabbing a bottle of water from a shelf as she went. The expiration date was still good, although it was only a matter of months now before all tinned food would be no good to anyone.

She popped a couple of pills out for him and handed him the water. he twisted the cap off quickly and swallowed the pills. "Let me take a look at that," Andrea said as she started to untie the t-shirt bandage they'd created. She'd untied it when a bang that sounded like it was inside the building had them both alert and ready for an attack. They headed towards the noise, leading them to the storeroom again.

Andrea raised the knife ready for anything, Daryl grabbing a tin from the shelf as they passed. Anything that could cause some blunt trauma would have to do. They both looked around the storeroom for the noise before Daryl pointed to a door, clutter in front of it and Andrea cleared the way for them to investigate properly.

She opened the door to reveal a set of steps. She looked at Daryl and he shrugged. They headed up the stairs slowly and as the reached the top, they saw what caused the noise.

A partially decomposed body slumped in a chair, head having dropped to the ground and splattered close by and a cat standing on the body, eating the flesh from the body.

Andrea gagged at the sight. Daryl puked.

Andrea quickly passed by the body to another door, opening it and looking inside. A dark bedroom met her and she felt that at least they'd found a safe place. It seemed to be a small apartment, ideal for the person who owned the shop and the bedroom was empty. "Daryl?" Andrea called and motioned for him to come over.

He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, looking slightly pitiful as he headed her way. She noticed that with the t-shirt removed from Daryl's side, the bandage beneath was almost soaked through with blood.

Andrea moved over to the bed and opened the curtain carefully, needing some daylight to light the way but wanting to avoid any attention. Outside was clear and she pulled the covers off the bed.

"Lay down and let me take a look at that," she demanded.

Daryl didn't argue with her and did as she asked. She closed the door, keeping the sight and stench from the next room out and then sat on the bed next to Daryl as she peeled away the sodden remains of her shirt. Parts of it stuck to him and more blood welled underneath though most of it looked like it was bleeding again before she touched it.

"Think puking up started it off again," Daryl said to her, voice weary as he lay there.

She looked at him, nodding slightly. He had a light gleam of sweat covering him and he looked exhausted even though they hadn't travelled that far over the last couple of days. She used the antiseptic wipes on the wound but felt it was doing very little to clear it. The skin around it was red and sore looking. She grabbed for the pillow beside Daryl's head and started to cut it into strips, needing to make him fresh bandages.

She wrapped the wound up again and already decided that they needed to stay here a day or two while Daryl healed up a little. She'd just have to make him think that it was for her benefit.

"I'm gonna find something for us to eat," she said.

He started to shift upwards until she held up a hand to stop him. "Hey, I'm gonna go and get a couple tins I'm not hunting for game. I'll be right back," she assured him.

She wasn't gone long and bought up two tins of meatballs and peaches for them to eat afterwards as well as a couple more bottles of water.

"'m gonna sleep first," Daryl told her upon her return, his eyelids heavy again and the light from outside highlighted the sheen on his skin. She nodded as she opened her own food and ate quickly and quietly, keeping her eyes on the view outside.

She could tell by his breathing when he fell asleep and she turned to look at him as he slept.

He needed the rest, that much was clear. The emotional trauma from losing Merle and the brutality of everything that happened to them since was overwhelming. Add to that Daryl's injury, the fact that they were lost and barely armed and nobody knew they were out here. She let out a steady breath. She needed to stay calm. She moved across to the window and drew the curtains again before she laid down beside Daryl on the bed and watched him sleep.


	5. Needs

5.

_The throaty sound woke him up. _

_His mind was still hazy as he tried to process what the familiar sound was and as he opened his heavy lids, he saw a decaying face slowly making it's way towards him._

* * *

Andrea hadn't realised how tired she'd been until she'd woken up on the bed besides Daryl.

She wasn't surprised to find him still sleeping. As she lay beside him, she carefully reached to touch his forehead to feel his skin. She feared she'd feel heat radiating from him, a fever raging but he felt fine and it eased her worry. The last thing either of them needed was for Daryl to get his wound infected.

She carefully got out of bed, and left Daryl alone to sleep.

Making her way into the next room, she was reminded of the body in it and knew she needed to do something about it. There were three unexplored doors and she cautiously opened each one. She found another bedroom which was small and tight and mostly looked to be a storage room, a kitchen and lastly a bathroom.

The bathroom was the room she was most interested in and she found a stack of towels in a cupboard. She pulled one out and then set about finding a bed sheet. She found one in the spare bedroom and took both towel and sheet into the main room. She placed the towel over the headless corpse and then used the sheet over the rest of it. She went back and retrieved a smaller towel and threw that over the head.

Before she'd fallen asleep, she'd been thinking about their situation.  
Neither of them knew where they were and if they just kept walking around aimlessly, hoping to reach the prison, they may run into The Governor's men again. If they did, she had no doubt that it would result in their recapture and certain death this time around.

So the first thing she thought they needed to do, after getting some supplies together, was find a vehicle.  
This town must have a car somewhere here that worked and if they could find one, they would cut down the travelling time.  
The needed to get back to the prison. Daryl had told her about coming to rescue Glenn and Maggie with Rick and Michonne and he had confessed to her that he was worried that they might go back after him if they thought he was in there. He hated the idea that any of them might get hurt going after him when he wasn't even there.

So time was an issue and walking around for days wouldn't be any good. But the reality was, maybe they wouldn't find a car quite that easily and they needed to be prepared.

She sifted through the spare room and eventually found a backpack. There were other stores here. The chance to find some real supplies. Daryl was still without a weapon. The best they'd do here was a standard kitchen knife and that really wasn't good enough.

She'd surveyed the area around them. No walkers, no threat from people.

And she'd spotted a hardware store on the other side of the town. Weighing up the pro's and con's it was an easy choice to make. She was confident that she could handle herself without back up from Daryl.

Easing the backpack over one shoulder, she grabbed the knife and made her way downstairs.

Everything was quiet and clear and she was out the door in seconds, pulling it closed behind her.

She made her way quickly across the park, over to the hardware story, pushing her way inside quickly and sweeping the aisles to make sure she was safe. No walkers were in the building but that was short lived relief seeing as she quickly realise the majority of useful tools had been taken. She swept over the shelves and was shocked by the lack of contents. Someone seemed to have picked the place clean and she briefly wondered with Phillip had scouted this area out at some point.

With the amount they'd done at Woodbury, it wouldn't surprise her at all that he would have taken everything. After searching everywhere, she eventually found an old hammer underneath the counter in a box of odds and ends. It wasn't great but it was something. Daryl could have the knife, he'd probably be better with it than her and the hammer was a pretty good weapon.

She returned to the door and after checking she was clear again, she made her way outside. She walked by the shops, checking each one for anything that might help them.

One of the shops was unmarked but Andrea could see the remains of some medicine packages inside and guessed it was a pharmacy. She grimaced at the fact she could clearly see a couple of walkers inside and would have to take them out before she could even see what the store had to offer. But she decided the risk of going in was worth it. Daryl needed whatever she could gather and a couple of walkers weren't going to stand in her way. She entered the shop and both walkers turned to her in seconds, She quickly dispatched of them, using the hammer effectively.

She once again checked outside to make sure she was clear to continue and then rooted around, looking for anything of use to them.

She found some bandages in the store and in the storeroom she found boxes of stock. She quickly ripped through them. A box of anti-biotics and more bandages. Her bag was well stocked when she was done and when she came through to the store she was met with a sight that horrified her.

A herd was walking through the small town. She froze, hoping that none had spotted her and she watched unmoving as they passed through. It felt like the herd wouldn't end and she slowly crept back into the shadows.

As the walkers started to thin out, she carefully made her way closer to the front of the store. And then her blood ran cold as she saw a small group had broke off and had headed into the store where she'd left Daryl.

"Damn," she whispered.

She watched as at least four walkers stumbled into the store and she held her breath as she watched the remaining walkers shuffle along. And she remembered that she didn't close the door to the stairs before she came out. If the walkers came to the stairs there was no reason for them to go up the stairs and Daryl was just in there, no weapons and sleeping.

She waited for as long as she could stand it but then she had to make a break for it. Because even if it meant attracting the herd back, even if she was running in to certain death, she couldn't leave Daryl to that fate.


	6. Seek

**Note**: Sorry, it's short and I'm not sure it's very good either. Hmmm, well, we shall see. :)

* * *

6.

Daryl barely had a second to think as he saw a walker lunging for him, teeth snapping at the air as Daryl managed to move his arm away from it's decaying teeth just before they clamped around his skin.

He moved without thinking, knowing there wasn't time and gravity pulled him heavily to the ground where he landed with a thud. He pushed himself into a sitting position and groped around for something he could use as a weapon. He could hear the walker snarling close to him as it made it's way over and across the bed to where it had seen him and as he kept his eyes upwards towards the bed, knowing any second, he'd see the walkers face looming down at him. His hand brushed against a cable and he pulled it, a sound above him made him snap his head up as he realised there was a lamp on the bedside table.

He yanked the cable, barely catching the lamp before it fell to the ground.  
The walker lunged at him again, across the bed and he managed to strike it with the base of the ceramic lamp, smashing it instantly.

It didn't stop the walker though. It still came for him and desperate, he used the lampshade to block the walkers teeth from scraping against his skin. It wouldn't last and he could feel the weight of the walker baring down on him as it struggled to get closer, to reach him. It was move than half off the bed by now, and in desperation, Daryl rolled himself and the walker to the side. He did his best to jam the remains of the lampshade in it's snarling jaws and knew he had no choice but to make a run for it. He pulled away from the walkers and struggled back up to the bed quickly backing away from the edge and to the other side.

As soon as he was clear from the danger of the first walker, he was able to register the other two walkers coming for him, one already in the door, the other back by the stairs.

He knew he'd die here. And knowing his fate, his mind went to Andrea, he wondered what happened to her. If she'd met the same fate as him.

He guessed he'd never know the answer to that.

* * *

She knew some walkers had seen her. Would follow her into the store, their refuge.

She didn't care. She had to get to Daryl before it was too late. One walker was staggering around one aisle and she ignored it, headed straight for the stairs. One was just reaching the top of the stairs when she thundered up after it. The hammer war gripped tightly in her hand and it wasn't until she was at the top that she saw Daryl struggling with a couple of walkers.

Andrea grabbed the walker at the top of the stairs and flung it back as hard as she could and heard the satisfying sound as it tumbled backwards down the stairs.

"Daryl!" she called. She prayed he was okay but she could see he was still fighting off the walkers.

He seemed to be surrounded by them and he managed to push the one in front of him away and she caught a glimpse of him. Their eyes locked briefly and she pulled the knife from her belt and nodded at him before she threw the knife at him. He caught it with a quick flick of his wrist, he drove it into the head of the walker behind him.

Andrea turned her attention back to the walker on the stairs, slowly making it's way back up towards her.

Knowing Daryl was armed, she could concentrate on the other invading walkers.

She quickly took care of the walker on the stairs and she didn't hesitate heading back down stairs and killing the remaining walkers that had invaded the store. Three had followed her and once all were downed, she cautiously went to the door. No other walkers were lingering and she locked the door quickly and headed back upstairs.

"Daryl? Are you okay?" she called as she made her way up to him.

When she reached the top of the stairs, she saw him stood at the door to the bedroom where he'd bee sleeping. He was looking at the walkers, a little unsure of what exactly had happened.

"I'm so sorry," Andrea started. "I went across to get some supplies. When I looked back, there was a herd passing. I saw them coming in and I thought..."

"I thought the same thing about you," Daryl confessed.

"You're okay?" she asked.

And he nodded. He raised his eyebrows towards her and waited. His way of asking her the same thing and she nodded.

"We should go," he said, looking at the bodies that littered the place now.

"Think we can find a car that runs?"

He nodded. "C'mon, lets get going."

* * *

_"There's nothing here."_

_"We left them right here."_

_The Governor smiled, though it never touched his eyes. "Well, where are they then? There's nothing left. I've never seen a walker devour someone like that. Clothes and all."_

_"I..." _

_"Find them."_


End file.
